20 GUSTAV MAGNUS. 



too far, must also admit that in the older mathema- 

 tical physics there are many reasons for this dislike, 

 and that, on the other hand, he received with the 

 greatest pleasure the results which Kirchhoff, Sir 

 W. Thomson, and others had developed out of new 

 facts from theoretical starting-points. I may here be 

 permitted to adduce my own experience. My re- 

 searches were mostly developed in a manner against 

 which Magnus tried to guard; yet I never found in 

 him any but the most willing and friendly recognition. 

 It is, however, natural that every one, relying upon 

 his own experience, should recommend to others, as 

 most beneficial, the way which best suits his own 

 nature, and by which he has made the quickest pro- 

 gress. And if we are all of the same opinion that the 

 task of science is to find the Laws of Facts, then 

 each one may be left free either to plunge into facts, 

 and to search where he might come upon traces of 

 laws still unknown, or from laws already known to 

 search out the points where new facts are to be dis- 

 covered. But just as we all, like Magnus, are op- 

 posed to the theorist who holds it unnecessary to 

 prove experimentally the hypothetical results which 

 seem axioms to him, so would Magnus as his works 

 decidedly show pronounce with us against that kind 

 of excessive empiricism which sets out to discover 

 facts which fit to no rule, and which also try carefully 



